I was surprised that taxes cover garbage pickup in some cities. I'm in Portland, Oregon and private collectors are assigned to various parts of the city with regulated fees. You choose your can size, frequency, etc. and pay the collector.
In St Paul, MN, we have private trash collection. This results in one or two garbage trucks coming down every street, every single day. The wear on the streets, and especially the alleyways, is incredible. They have to repave them every other year. But we can't have municipal trash collection because "free market" or some crap. Ugh.
